Celebrating Our Future, With Your Past
by SilentJo
Summary: It's hard to figure out what to get our partner for your anniversary. Especially your first. Bakugou struggles to think of the perfect gift for his perfect little nerd. But then, inspiration hits, in the form of a cheesy website and a list of traditional anniversary presents. "Who the hell would want paper as a present?"


Stupid wedding traditions. Bakugou shook his head in frustration as he glanced over the results of his web search for "anniversary present." The first link brought him to a cheesy page that listed the traditional gifts for each anniversary year. Paper was listed as a traditional first anniversary gift.

"Paper?! Who the hell would want paper as a present?" Bakugou said to himself as he continued reading the article. "'As the first year of marriage is considered a new beginning, the gift of paper can symbolize the ability to write your own story as a couple.' Write your own story... Hmm..."

The sound of the key turning in the door triggered Bakugou to silently curse while quickly clearing the search history and closing the web browser. Deku walked into their living room moments later, slightly out of breath and carrying several bags full of groceries.

"Hey Kacchan, I didn't expect you to be home so early, something happen at the agency?" he asked as he settled the bags onto the kitchen counter and started putting the contents away.

"Huh? Oh, nah, just a slow day. Glasses told me I could head out early. Why'd you spend your day off at the supermarket anyway? I told you we'd go together once I was off."

Deku shrugged his shoulders, meekly dismissing Bakugou's slightly aggressive tone with a short laugh. "I knew you would have been tired yourself if you went for groceries with me after work. It's not a problem, really. I'll have dinner going as soon as I'm done here as well." As Deku went back to putting away their food, Bakugou watched as he practically danced around their kitchen. His moves were graceful, not a single motion wasted as he made sure each item went to its rightful place. That calm yet chaotic demeanor was what caught Bakugou's eye in the first place, years ago. And it was then that he decided exactly what he should do for their first anniversary.

**Days Later...**

"Kacchan, you have a delivery, an— oof! It's a heavy one!" Deku yelled from the front door as he took the hefty box from the delivery man. Deku had asked Bakugou about their plans for the evening. Kacchan had asked for a quiet night in rather than going out on the town. Deku was glad for that, it meant that they could have each other's undivided attention the entire evening. Now that they were both pro heroes, a lot of their time was spent catering to their fans and citizens. But considering this was their first anniversary as a couple, he looked forward to just having time for each other with no distractions.

Walking into the living room, bare chested and drying his hair with a towel after a quick shower, Kacchan looked at the package and realized what it was after staring at it for a moment.

"Oh, that? Nah, it's not for me. It's for you."

"M-Me? What would I be getting, I don't remember ordering anything..." Deku started to mumble as he set to work opening the box. As he swung the flaps outward, a layer of bubble wrap and tissue paper distorted his view of the contents. Clearing them away, his eyes started to water as he saw the bright, shiny covers.

"Kacchan, h-how did you get these? I thought I had lost them after middle school!" He carefully lifted the first book, the cover an exact replica of the first hero notebook he had made while he was still in grade school. The volume was professionally bound with Deku's full name as the author in a neat, crisp font in the corner. Gingerly flipping through the pages, he saw they were all accurate to what he'd written, a perfect copy of his notes.

His hands shoved in his sleep pants pockets, Kacchan finally answered as Deku flipped through each volume. "You were going to accidentally throw them away during the move here. I held onto them even though you had them put in the pile of stuff to be trashed. You need to be more careful; all that time working on these would have been wasted otherwise."

Deku couldn't hold back his tears anymore as he looked over volumes 11 and 12, then he saw the final volume, number 13. And while the other 12 were in perfect condition, the cover art of 13 was unique. Across the front were actual burn marks, the edges of the pages singed. Kacchan had taken the time to restore the book he had burned in middle school and, even though he could have asked the publishing company to make it brand new like the others, he chose to keep its original appearance.

"It didn't seem right to make it look all pretty. The day I ruined that book was the first time I noticed your desire to be a hero. I mean, you'd rambled on about it for years, but that was the first time you made me believe that you intended to make a move to become one. And it… intimidated and angered me for some stupid reason. So, yeah... I didn't see a point in hiding that. You can toss them if you don't like—"

Deku jumped onto Bakugou, encircled his arms around his neck and squeezed with everything he had. The time and consideration his partner had put into this gift was more than he could take. "I love them Kacchan, but I love you so much more! Thank you for this, you saved so much of my past doing this for me."

"Yeah, I love you too. Damn nerd."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thought of this headcanon while on Twitter yesterday, where Deku would still write hero notes even after he and Kacchan become pro heroes. Then I thought that Kacchan would do this as an anniversary gift for him, adding to the collection with each anniversary as Deku created more notebooks.


End file.
